Most of the first part of the week was taken up with preparing for our camping trip to Ochoco Lake County Park in Prineville, only about an hour's drive from our home in Band. A battery problem caused us to be late leaving home on Thursday, but at least the drive was short.
Jim, Charlie's brother, had a much longer drive from his home in Florence, but he got there before us. Our campsites were side-by-side. People we meet at campgrounds often ask us how we like our R-Pods. We're happy with them.
Jim had hikes planned for us. Friday morning we fixed lunches and climbed into our truck to head to the John Day Fossil Beds National Park, home of the famous Painted Hills. It was cool and cloudy, but not unpleasant, a nice change from our last couple of camping trips, when it was hot. I attached Dusty to one of the benches overlooking the painted hills, so I could get a photo of all my companions.
The Painted Hills are made up of iron-rich volcanic deposits. The weathering of the iron causes the red color in the layers, but sometimes green instead. Rather than one long hike, we took four short ones, each in a different area with a total of close to two miles. (More information about the hikes may be found here.) This was the Painted Hills Overlook.
Charlie and I did the Painted Cove Trail twice, because he wanted to go back and get a photo of some geologic features we only glimpsed the first time. We went around the loop, ate our lunches under a tree, then Jim went back to the truck, while we went back to have a looksee. Then we got back into the truck and went on to Leaf Hill, which is not what you would think. The "leaf" part is fossil leaves and pine needles. They have a nice display case close to the beginning of the trail with some fossils and pictures of what the original trees looked like. We ended the day with a hike on the Red Hill Trail, also called Red Scar Knoll. The trail went to a big hill that was red on one side and yellow on the other. We were able to see both sides by following the trail.
Here, Charlie (right) is giving Jim a geology lesson.
The first night, Thursday, Jim heated up some quiche, and I provided the bread and salad. We ate at his place. Friday night we hosted, with spinach and mushroom lasagne, salad and bread. He brought a nice Apothic Cabernet Sauvignon. I had wrapped individual servings of the lasagne in foil, which I stacked on a rack in the pressure cooker to heat. The foil kept the water out of the lasagne while heating.
Saturday night, I heated up some pea soup in a saucepan, and the guys had some sliced turkey with it. We had brownies for dessert each night. Carob for me, and chocolate fo the guys.
Saturday's hike was a little more strenuous than the four little hikes the day before. There was a lot of ups and downs, but we didn't have to drive as far. It was a little cooler and cloudier than the day before. We drove to Steins Pillar Trailhead in Ochoco National Forest. It was a fairly short drive over regular roads, but two miles at the end over winding dirt roads to reach the trailhead. There were very few people there, and we were able to let the dogs off-leash for the four-mile hike.
Dusty liked to stay right behind Jim, who led the way, but Sandy kept looking back to check on Charlie and me. The dogs also ran excitedly back and forth along the trail, a nice change from a couple of days of being kept on leash or cooped up in the trailer. Here's Sandy looking back to make sure I was coming. We had just eaten lunch in a place where we could see the pillar.
Stein's Pillar was named after Major Enoch Steen, who explored the area in the 1860s. The name was misspelled, although they got it right for Steen's Mountain. The pillar is 350 feet tall. It's made up of volcanic ash-flow (or tuff) that was deposited around 44 million years ago and then weathered away.
We rode in Jim's Nissan truck to the trailhead and back. This vehicle doesn't have a real back seat, just a couple of fold-down seats, one of which Jim folded down for me. I had a seat belt, but the pups had to stay on the floor. Here they are, on the floor on the way back, after expending a lot of energy during the hike.
Earlier in the week we had taken Sandy to the vet to see how to treat a rash he had on his tummy. We aren't sure what caused it, but he's been taking an anti-inflammatory and an antibiotic/antiviral medication. Nothing serious showed up on the sample the vet took. There's almost no sign of the rash now.
We thought we got off to a bad start with the battery problem, but Sunday morning at the campsite, we discovered the toilet was clogged. Last time this happened, driving home solved the problem, but not this time. We may have to start using special toilet paper. Charlie will be going to the dump station today. We removed most of the stuff from the trailer that shouldn't remain in it over the winter (food and liquids), but still have a few things to remove before winterizing. Jim also made it home safely.
Meanwhile, the Portland Stuarts attended the Highland Games in McMinnville, Oregon, sporting their official Stuart tartan kilts.
And I managed to get in some knitting on the Gentle Spirit Tee. It's starting to look like the picture. My project notes are here.
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What's in The Doll's Storybook: In Getting What You Want, the boys learn what compromising is, even though they had already done it. They just didn't know what it was called.
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